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FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP and FreeRTOS-Plus-FAT Examples
Running on an ST STM32F407 ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller

[Buildable TCP/IP and FAT FS Examples]

Introduction

RTOS and TCP/IP running on STM3240G-EVAL Don't have any hardware? You can still try the RTOS TCP and FAT examples now by using the Win32 demo, which uses free tools, and runs in a Windows environment.

Note 1: In order to demonstrate FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP and FreeRTOS-Plus-FAT being used in a RAM constrained system the project described on this page only uses the STM32's 192K bytes of internal RAM. The external RAM on the STM3240G-EVAL development board is not used.

Note 2: The demo presented on this page can be built using the free Lite version of Atollic's TrueStudio IDE, as even the free version does not have a code size limit.

The ST STM32F407 ARM Cortex-M4 TCP/IP and FAT demo includes the following standard examples:

FreeRTOS-Plus-FAT is used to mount a FAT formatted SD card. The mounted file system then serves the files for both the HTTP and FTP server examples.

The project builds using the free edition of the Atollic TrueStudio GCC based development tools (which don't have a code size limit), and targets the ST STM3240G-EVAL evaluation board.


Instructions

Hardware Setup

No specific hardware setup is required.


Locating the Project

The Atollic TrueStudio project that builds the demo described on this page is located in the /FreeRTOS-Plus/Demo/FreeRTOS_Plus_TCP_and_FAT_STM32F4xxx directory of the FreeRTOS Labs download.

NOTE: The ST STM32F407 ARM Cortex-M4 TCP/IP and FAT demo project is provided in the download is for community interest and to serve as a reference. It is fully functional, but may not comply with our production code standards.

Software Setup #1: Setting a Static or Dynamic IP Address

Allocating an IP address to the free RTOS TCP/IP target
Network address settings in FreeRTOSConfig.h
The FreeRTOSIPConfig.h and FreeRTOSConfig.h header files are the FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP and FreeRTOS configuration files respectively. Both can be opened from within the TrueStudio Eclipse based IDE.

If a DHCP server is in use, then set ipconfigUSE_DHCP to 1 in FreeRTOSIPConfig.h, and no further IP related network address configuration is necessary. If a hostname is provided for the STM32 target then it is not necessary to know the IP address assigned to the STM32 by the DHCP server, because the STM32 can be located using the assigned name. The IP address can however be viewed, as it is printed out using the UDP logging facility.

If a DHCP server is not in use then set ipconfigUSE_DHCP to 0 in FreeRTOSIPConfig.h, and configure a static IP address and netmask using the configIP_ADDR0/3 and configNET_MASK0/3 constants located in FreeRTOSConfig.h. Note the IP address constants are in FreeRTOSConfig.h, rather than FreeRTOSIPConfig.h, because they are related to the application, and not the TCP/IP stack directly.

It is necessary to ensure any manually configured IP address is compatible with the netmask used by the network to which the STM32 is being connected. In most cases a compatible IP address will be one that uses the same first three octets as the host computer. For example, if the IP address of the host computer is 172.25.218.100, then any 172.25.218.nnn address, other than where nnn is 0, 255, or already present on the network, is valid.

It is also necessary to set a gateway address that is correct for the network to which the STM32 is being connected, or at least compatible with the configured netmask if no gateway exists. This step is necessary to prevent an internal sanity check triggering a configASSERT() failure due to a mismatched gateway address and netmask. The gateway address is set using the configGATEWAY_ADDR0/3 constants in FreeRTOSConfig.h.


Software Setup #2: Setting the MAC Address

If only one embedded target that is running a FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP example is connected to the network then it will not be necessary to modify the MAC address.

If multiple embedded targets that are running FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP examples are connected to the same network then it will be necessary to ensure the MAC address assigned to each embedded target is unique.

The MAC address is set using the configMAC_ADDR0/5 constants in FreeRTOSConfig.h.


Software Setup #3: Setting the Hostname

It is more convenient to identify a network node using a human readable text name than an IP address. This is especially the case when the IP address is assigned by a DHCP server, and it therefore not necessarily known, and liable to be changed. For example, rather than sending a ping request to an IP address, such as "ping 172.25.218.200", a ping request can instead be sent to a hostname, such as "ping MyHostName" (where "MyHostName" is the name assigned to the network node).

If only one embedded target that is running a FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP example is connected to the network then it will not be necessary to modify the default hostname, which is "RTOSDemo". If multiple embedded targets that are running FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP examples are connected to the same network then it will be necessary to ensure the hostname assigned to each embedded target is unique.

The hostname is set by the mainHOST_NAME constant, which is located near the top of the main.c source file. Depending on the network topology, it may also be possible to use a second hostname set by the mainDEVICE_NICK_NAME constant, which is also defined at the top of main.c.


Software Setup #4: Setting the Echo Server Address

If the TCP echo client example is used then set the constants configECHO_SERVER_ADDR0 to configECHO_SERVER_ADDR3 in FreeRTOSConfig.h to the IP address of a suitable echo server. FreeRTOS-Plus-TCP will then send echo requests to, and receive echo replies from, the configured echo server.


Software Setup #5: Print and Logging Messages

Directing RTOS TCP/IP stack debug output
Logging configuration in FreeRTOSConfig.h
As delivered, FreeRTOS_debug_printf() is not used, and FreeRTOS_printf() is set to send TCP/IP stack and application logging messages to a UDP port. The IP address and port number to which the UDP logging messages are sent, along with a few other logging related parameters, are set using constants within FreeRTOSConfig.h, as shown in the image on the right.

Log messages are buffered for transmission by a low priority background RTOS task.

Log output can be viewed in many different terminal programs, including UDPTerm, from Cinetix.


Software Setup #6: Hardware Specific Settings

The project is delivered pre-configured to execute on an STM32F40G-EVAL evaluation board. To execute the demo on different hardware:
  • Update HAL_ETH_MspInit(), which is the ST HAL driver callback function, to ensure it correctly configures the IO for your hardware. HAL_ETH_MspInit() is implemented near the bottom of main.c.

  • Set the configSD_DETECT_GPIO_PORT and configSD_DETECT_PIN settings in FreeRTOSConfig.h to the GPIO port and pin used to detect if an SD card is present.

  • It may be necessary to update the network driver if a different PHY is used.


Running Examples

The instructions below describe how to build, download, then execute the application on a STM3240G-EVAL evaluation board:
  1. Follow the software configuration steps detailed above.

  2. If available, insert a clean FAT formatted SD card into the STM32F407G-EVAL SD card socket.

  3. Inspect the comments at the top of main.c, and set the constants that build individual examples into and out of the demo as required.

    Note: If an SD card is not being used then do not include the HTTP or FTP server examples.

  4. Ensure the STM3240G-EVAL hardware is connected to the host computer (the computer running Atollic TrueStudio) using a suitable debug connection (such as ST Link, or J-Link) and connected to a network using an Ethernet cable.

  5. Select "Import" from the TrueStudio IDE's "File" menu. The dialogue box shown below will appear. Select "Existing Projects into Workspace".


    Importing the STM32 TrueStudio project into the Eclipse workspace
    The dialogue box that appears when "Import" is first clicked


  6. In the next dialogue box, select /FreeRTOS-Plus/Demo/FreeRTOS_Plus_TCP_and_FAT_STM32F4xxx as the root directory. Then, make sure the RTOSDemo project is checked in the "Projects" area, and that the Copy Projects Into Workspace box is not checked, before clicking the Finish button (see the image below for the correct check box states, the finish button is not visible in the image).


    Selecting the RTOS STM32 project to import into Eclipse
    Make sure that RTOSDemo is checked, and "Copy projects into workspace" is not checked


  7. Select "Build All" from the TrueStudio IDE's "Project" menu to create the executable image.

  8. Select "Debug" from the TrueStudio IDE's "Run" menu to create a debug configuration, which can then be used to program the STM32 flash memory and start a debug session.

Green LED 1 will toggle when the application is executing. The LED is toggled from the Idle task, so the toggle rate will not necessarily be constant.


Basic Connectivity Test

It is advised to test basic connectivity before experimenting with the examples linked below. This can be done by pinging the target. If ping replies are received, then the application is both running and connected to the network correctly.

To ping the device, open a command prompt and type "ping ", where is the name assigned to the target - which by default will be "RTOSDemo".

If a ping reply is not received then turn DHCP off, assign the target a static IP address, and try again using the assigned IP address in place of the host name.

Instructions describing how to set a static IP address, and how to set a hostname, are provided in the setup instructions on this page.

pinging the TCP target
Pinging the target, and receiving ping responses


Included Examples

The project includes the following examples:
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